Psalm 32:1-7
Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered.
Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity,
and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away
through my groaning all day long.
For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;
my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.
I acknowledged my sin to you,
and I did not cover my iniquity;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”
and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah
Therefore let everyone who is godly
offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found;
surely in the rush of great waters,
they shall not reach him.
You are a hiding place for me;
you preserve me from trouble;
you surround me with shouts of deliverance.
Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, Psalm epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. The psalm for Sunday, September 10, is Psalm 32 verses one through seven. It reads, bless it is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered, blesses us with a man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. For When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night, Your hand was heavy upon me. My strength was dried up from the heat of the summer, I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Therefore, let everyone who is godly offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found. Surely in the great rush in the Russia of great waters, they shall not reach him. You are a hiding place for me, you preserve me from trouble, you surround me with shouts of deliverance, Here ends the reading. The song begins with blessing it is the one who's transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. And what a great blessing it is to be a forgiven sinner in Christ, whose sacrifice on the Cross paid the penalty for our sins and gives us eternal life. We are all blessed when he turned to Christ for forgiveness, and he delivers it to us. David continues, he says, For When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night, Your hand was heavy upon me, my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. I think for anyone who's got guilt weighing heavily on them, you can identify with this. For When I kept silent, my bones wasted away. I think David is talking about having a sin that is, is weighing heavily on him, almost as if a disease is taking him. But then he continues, I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity, I said, I will confess my transgression to the Lord and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Now, I think as we look at this, we should put this in contact company in the context of what it means to, to turn to God for forgiveness in the Old Testament. This was something you actually did at the temple, there was a thing called a sin offering. And if you committed a sin, you would go bring an animal to the temple where you would offer a sacrifice, confess your sin on the animal, and they would kill it. And that was a way of obtaining forgiveness from God. We have something somewhat similar, though the sacrifice has been done once and for all through Jesus Christ, we offer the gift of confession and absolution, where you can come confess your sins to God and receive the absolution from the pastor as from God Himself. And that's a way to rid yourself of this guilt. This is a gift that the church offers to her people, not as a threat to say, Ah, you must confess. But when your guilt is laying heavy upon you, and your bones are wasting away, and you're groaning and you you're just struggling with your own sin. Confession is a way to deal with that. When you come before the person that God says, Forgive my people, and you can receive forgiveness face to face. David continues, therefore let everyone who is godly offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found. Surely in the rush of great waters, they shall not reach him, for you are a hiding place for me. You preserve me from trouble you surround me from with shouts of deliverance. For someone who is in Christ and has confessed their sin and receive forgiveness. We can offer our prayers to God and be protected by him in the rush of a flood or the great waters are all that God is a hiding place a protector who saves us. That's all we have for today. See you on Sunday. Bye
Transcribed by https://otter.ai